The Darkness and the Light
' |image= |series= |production=40510-509 |producer(s)= |story= Bryan Fuller |script= Ronald D. Moore |director= Michael Vejar |imdbref=tt0708620 |guests=Randy Oglesby as Silaran, William Lucking as Furel, Diane Salinger as Lupaza, Jennifer Savidge as Trentin Fala and Aron Eisenberg as Nog |previous_production=Rapture |next_production=The Begotten |episode=DS9 S05E11 |airdate= 6 January 1997 |previous_release= Rapture |next_release=(DS9) The Begotten (Overall) Fair Trade |story_date(s)= Stardate 50416.2 (2373) |previous_story=Rapture |next_story= Macrocosm Fair Trade }} Summary Kira is shocked and saddened when Latha Mabrin, a fellow member of the Shakaar Resistance Cell-turned Vedek, is murdered. Kira's shock turns to fear, however, when she receives a recorded message moments after learning of the murder. Her message consists of a picture of Latha appearing on the computer screen, and a scrambled voice saying simply, "That's one." Odo is unable to trace the message, which Kira interprets as a threat to all the former members of the Shakaar Resistance Cell. Kira makes arrangements to transport Resistance member Fala onto a runabout returning to the station. But something goes wrong during the transport, and Fala is killed. An investigation reveals the Fala was killed by a tiny detonator programmed to scramble the transporter beam. A message from the scrambled voice saying "That's two" is soon delivered on a PADD. Later, while working on the case in Odo's office, Kira receives a "That's three" message displaying the face of Mobara, another member of the Shakaar. Immediately, they begin efforts to contact him, hoping to stop his murder. Kira returns to her room in O'Brien's quarters to rest, but is jolted by a loud crash outside her door. Phaser drawn, Kira creeps into the living room, ready to face the assassin. Instead, she comes face to face with Furel and Lupaza, two more members of the Shakaar who have come to help her. Thinking her bodyguard was the killer, they attacked him — causing the noise Kira heard. Furel and Lupaza volunteer to hunt down the assassin for Kira. She prefers to handle her problem within the boundaries of the law, but allows Furel and Lupaza to stay with her in the O'Brien quarters to "protect" her and the O'Briens' unborn child. Later, the grim, but not unexpected, news of Mobara's death arrives. During a staff meeting, Odo surmises that whoever is doing the killing most likely has a vendetta against Kira — and that she is also a likely target. Nog, Dax and Kira work with the scrambled voice, hoping it will provide a clue, but the voice used in the messages turns out to belong to Kira. Their work is interrupted by news that there has been an explosion in the O'Brien quarters. O'Brien was not home at the time, but Furel and Lupaza are dead. Odo tells Kira that he has compiled a list of possible suspects with the skills, opportunity and motive for these attacks. He refuses to give Kira the list, afraid the very pregnant woman will head off in search of the killer on her own. Kira pretends to have no intention to leave the station, but the moment Odo leaves, she transports into his office, steals the file and shuts down Odo's computer so she can't be followed. Then she takes off in a runabout. After eliminating several suspects, she arrives at the home of Silaran Prin. Almost instantly, she is placed in a restraining field and told she will die. Silaran, who was severely disfigured in a Resistance bombing, is punishing those involved — especially Kira, who was the ringleader. He points out that he has not killed indiscriminately like Kira. The bombing in which he was injured killed civilians, women and children. He tells Kira that he will spare her baby, but kill her, and prepares to operate. Kira warns him that this will kill the baby, which is not Bajoran, but human, meaning it has special needs. Silaran is unmoved. Thinking quickly, Kira begs for a sedative, realizing that the herbs she has taken for her pregnancy have rendered most sedatives ineffective. She pretends to fall asleep, then lunges at Silaran, attacking and killing him. Sisko, Bashir and Odo arrive to rescue her, but Silaran is already dead, and Kira, shaken and sobered by her experience, only wants to go home. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Karyn Lun on Monday, February 22, 1999 - 1:03 pm: Wasn't it convenient that Siloran (sp?) released Kira's restraining field after he gave her the sedative? Cableface on Friday, January 22, 1999 - 3:48 pm: He had to release the field to operate on her. ' # ''Murray Leeder on Monday, February 22, 1999 - 9:29 pm: The entire end of this episode is based on a fundamental flaw. We're supposed to buy that Silaran Prin (The Cardassian Phantom of the Opera) was just an obscure tailor, but then why does Kira seek him out as a computer expert? ''LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 12:05 pm:'' If he began to learn computers when he first ventured on his quest for vengeance, he might’ve committed some other or smaller computer crimes early in his quest, and Kira found the criminal records of them.' # ''Omer on Tuesday, February 23, 1999 - 9:27 am: Shouldn't Kira stand trial for her crimes? ''LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 12:05 pm: Obviously, the Bajorans don’t think anyone who killed or attacked Cardassians during the Occupation committed any crime. Did the French or Jewish Resistance who killed Nazis in France or the Jewish Ghettos commit crimes? ''Jesse on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 11:18 am:''Omer, not sure exactly what you mean, but if you mean what she did in this episode, I agree. By my count, she could be charged with: 1. Three counts of assault (when she charges down to O'Brien's quarters and beats up the three security guards who try to stop her) 2. Breaking and entering (beaming into Security without Odo's permission) 3. Theft of Starfleet property (taking the runabout) 4. Unauthorized absence (leaving the station without her commanding officer's permission) Yet, at the end, she says, "Let's go home," and it's all dropped! Must be nice serving under a lawbreaker like Sisko. # Keith Alan Morgan on Thursday, April 29, 1999 - 6:53 am: Why does Jadzia need to borrow latinum from Quark? Why not just play him in a game of Tongo and win what she needs? ''LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 12:05 pm: The game may require players to put up money at the outset, as in poker. # Explaining how he knows the Rules of Acquisition, Worf says, "I am a graduate of Starfleet Academy. I know many things." First of all, when Worf graduated, Starfleet didn't know all that much about the Ferengi. There was no 'official' meeting of Starfleet officers and Ferengi until The Last Outpost, a few years after Worf graduated. Secondly, didn't Jadzia graduate from Starfleet after Worf? Thirdly, when Harry Kim came on board DS9 in Caretaker, he said just the wrong thing to Quark and almost caused a troublesome incident, which doesn't say much about Starfleet's knowledge of the Ferengi. Chris Thomas on Friday, October 22, 1999 - 8:33 pm: While the implication might be he learnt about the Ferengi at the Academy he might also be saying this to Jadzia because she constantly underestimates him and he just wants to put her in her place. He probably learnt the Rules of Acquisition from Riker or maybe Data bored him senseless with them. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 12:05 pm: As far as Worf’s comment about the Rules of Acquistion and the Academy, I never understood this to mean he learned them at the Academy, but rather Chris Thomas’ explanation that as an Academy graduate, he’s an intelligent and crafty person who may know or learn many things when the situation calls for it. # How is this transporter weapon supposed to work anyway? The transporter is supposed to analyze what it is transporting, so it knows how to put it back together properly. Presumably, this device would have some kind of independent power source, so why doesn't the computer examine such devices, possibly notifying the transporter controllers that something is there so they can keep it in the pattern buffer until they ask the person transporting if they know what it is? dotter31 on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 9:58 pm: They said in the episode that the transporter is set up to try to detect these devices, but that this one must have been very sophisticated and managed to hide itself from the sensors. # Shouldn't there be some kind of alarm that would let Security know that someone has used a transporter in the brig? dotter31 on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 9:58 pm: She was not in the brig, she was in Odo's office, but in any event, one would hope so. # How did Kira eliminate the first three names on the list? dotter31 on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 9:58 pm: This would have been good to hear in the episode. We can only assume that she talked to them about their whereabouts or used other means to establish whether or not they could have committed the murders. Why did she know that this guy was a likely suspect? Later the guy says, "You don't know who I am." If that was true, why not focus on the other names on the list that she would know? # How did he {Siliran) know just who did what in the raid on his master's house? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 12:05 pm: There could’ve been Cardassian records on suspected members of the Resistance, what their talents were, other crimes they were wanted for, etc. A good investigator, and someone as obsessed as Silaran was could’ve done found this out with hard work and patience. # How does a shirt ironer learn to override Security systems and use hunter probes to kill people? Where did a servant get the money to pay for that sophisticated technology? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 12:05 pm: He could’ve accumulated money (stolen it, inherited it, won it, etc.) in the years between the explosion and this episode. He could’ve set about learning the necessary skills for his quest for vengeance. # LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 12:05 pm: Kira complains to Bashir in the teaser that the makara herbs she takes to keep her progesterone levels up taste awful. Couldn’t Bashir sythesize a hypospray solution from them? That could reduce the medicinal properties of the herbs. # One of the common pitfall in Trek plots is the way in which a lot of the fantastic future technology we see would preclude a lot of them. Destiny (DS9), for example, established that the trace DNA of someone who handled a particular object can be scanned for, but The Adversary (DS9) featured the crew trying to figure out who sabotaged the Defiant by scanning for tetryon particles, forgetting about the DNA scan in the prior episode. In this episode, the entire motivation for the murders is the rage Silaran felt towards the Shakaar resistance cell who he blames for his disfigurement. Given how sophisticated medical technology is in the 24th century, including the technology for altering and restoring facial features, as seen in Unification Part 1 (TNG), Apocalypse Rising (DS9), etc., why didn’t Silaran have his face and arm restored? He still might have wanted vengeance on the cell, but it sure might have assuaged some, if not much of his anger.Maybe he wanted to retain the injuries as a form of motivation. # Mike Ram on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 8:12 pm: So Prin could really have destroyed a huge chunk of the station without anyone finding the bomb beforehand? If the Enterprise can scan for particles of space dust, why can't the station scan for this kind of bomb? LUIGI NOVI on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 10:00 pm: The first few episodes of the series established that much of the Cardassian technology was incompatible with Starfleet's. Keep in mind that during the Occupation, Terok Nor was an ore processing station, so sensors that sophisticated might not have been seen as that necessary. True, the prefect of Bajor lived there, and he was the target of numerous assassination attempts, but the device that Silerin used seemed extremely sophisticated, and I'm guessing the Resistance didn't have anything that small or sophisticated that the Cardies would've needed to scan for. # John A. Lang on Wednesday, December 03, 2003 - 9:16 pm: Why didn't Kira tell Sisko about her guests that beamed in undetected? Sure, they'd get in trouble for doing it, but they'd still be alive! Mike Nuss on Saturday, April 16, 2005 - 12:12 am: John, who says she didn't? And if she did, I'm not sure how that would keep them alive. Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine